1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to a method of separating a volatile component from a mixture in which said volatile component is incorporated, said method comprising circulating a flow of a carrier gas from an evaporator to a condenser and back to said evaporator, said carrier gas being supplied to the evaporator to contact said mixture and subsequently being transferred to the condenser together with the volatile component of the mixture, a part of said volatile component being precipitated by condensation in said condenser.
2. Description of the Related Art
As examples of processes, where a volatile component of a mixture is a desired product, may be mentioned ethanol distilled out of an ethanol/water solution, and water distilled out of salt water. As other examples of processes, where a lowered fraction of the volatile component is desired, may be mentioned concentrations of solutions and drying of moist material. The invention is thus applicable to a wide span of distillation and drying processes.
The use of a carrier gas as a transport medium for vapor from an evaporator to a condenser has been demonstrated in the German patent application 2 459 935 in reference to distillation of water. Thus a spray of heated salt water is in an evaporator evaporatively cooled by a flow of a carrier gas, said gas being subsequently propelled in a condenser in heat exchange with the flow of salt water, preheating the same under precipitation of condensate. The amount of available heat of vaporization is in the process very limited, namely to the sensible heat in the spray drops and consequently the obtainable evaporation rate of the spray drops is small.